Interesting, Tristan. You've turned the story on its head. To what end, I wonder? (An obvious comic answer to that question immediately presents itself but is summarily dismissed.)

I think it works, as an inverted parable, except that I can't see exactly what point it makes. If you could make that a little clearer - would changing the title help? - I think you'd have a nifty little thing.

Thanks 42, David, Ros & Seth for spending the time to think about this one. Here goes my explanation.

I use the pea in the same way it was used in the original story. In the original story, if the princess can’t feel the pea she is used to such small discomforts and isn’t privileged enough to be a princess; and if she can feel it, she isn’t used to such small discomforts, because she is very privileged. Therefore, the pea is used to measure how used to discomfort the princess is and in turn how privileged she is. It is still used like this in my poem. To start with my girl can’t feel any peas even though there are many, so she is used to a lot of discomfort in her life, ...

For me the last line means that she either didn’t want to lose fully what she had been (she wanted to keep a part of her previous self; she doesn’t want to be too comfortable for fear of maybe of losing her edge), and/or didn’t want to turn into a prissy overprivileged princess who is over sensitive to discomfort because she has always had everything she wants and has never had to struggle in life to be comfortable.

I suppose the moral could be, if there has to be one: it’s better to have struggled than be have been given everything.

The problem is FT you only understand one form of artistry in Poetry. Your appreciation is unfortunately very limited. I would say to you, try to challenge yourself a bit more and behave a little more maturely.

A very interesting read, I thought, for its ability to draw the reader in. I too wondered about the application of the fairy tale.

Firebird wrote:Inside the mattress she slept onwere many peas, ...I thought the pea was beneath the mattress rather than inside. Does it matter, I wonder?

and each day a few disappeared without her noticing, ...Yip, she is used to discomfort and sleeps well providing the niggles still exist.

until there came a time she felt uncomfortable. ...So, once the mattress became more comfortable, she became more uncomfortable. Ok I'm following your notes so far. Comfort disturbs her.

But she was brave ...Do you need this second 'but'?and decided to remove some more, ...Is she facing her demons here?

but never wantedto remove that final one. ...This reads like a security issue, where the last link is difficult to sever. It could also stand as a metaphor for remembrance, where she makes the deliberate decision to keep the last pea to remind herself of what once was. A wise old man once said to me when I was young, "Don't forget yourself as you get on in life. Remember who you are and you won't go far wrong".

Thanks for your input JJ - always perceptive and thoughtful. I think I agree that the second ‘but’ probably isn’t needed. Yes, in couplet 4, facing her demons is definitely one way of putting it. Your interp is pretty much spot on.

This implies that she is not making a conscious decision to remove them; that they are being removed by someone else; or that the removal is a consequence of her actions that was unintended. The awareness comes with time: youth to age (experience).

But she was braveand decided to remove some more,

though never wantedto remove that final one.

The situation has moved from unawareness to extreme sensitivity (being aware of one where to begin with she was indifferent to many). Decision making, consequent actions, are now consciously made. The implication here that it is not brave to remove the final one. She fears to embrace total comfort - the reader can speculate why (that true bravery maybe not to remove the final one).

I guess a Buddhist would be indifferent to the illusions of comfort and discomfort (on the physical level).

I think the poem benefits from reader engagement, though reader preconceptions may result in disengagement. Their loss!